KASHIWA, Chiba–A radiation hotspot in Kashiwa has still not been decontaminated a week after radiation of 57.5 microsieverts per hour was recorded on a city-owned plot of land.

The city insists such a high level of radiation is beyond the level a local government can handle on its own, though it decided to conduct surveys to find other hotspots after many residents expressed anxiety over the issue.

The Kashiwa municipal government said last Friday that radiation of 57.5 microsieverts per hour had been detected about 30 centimeters below the surface of the plot of land. Its subsequent examination of soil at the location detected radioactive cesium of up to 276,000 becquerels per kilogram.

Airborne radiation of 2 microsieverts per hour was recorded one meter above the ground–the same level detected in Iitatemura, Fukushima Prefecture, which was designated part of the expanded evacuation zone after the beginning of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

On Sunday, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said Kashiwa’s hotspot was likely caused by the Fukushima crisis.

Since Monday, the municipal government has been receiving more than 200 calls every day, mainly from local residents asking officials to measure radiation at their houses or conduct decontamination as soon as possible.

The plot of land in question used to be the site of a city-run housing complex. Recently residents had used it for recreational activities. The plot was flattened by leveling a slope in a hilly area. It comprises a field, a paved pedestrian walkway and a street gutter that is 30 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters deep.

The high level of radiation was detected in the soil near an L-shaped corner in the gutter, of which a nearby 50-centimeter-long section was found to be damaged.

Takao Nakaya, head of the ministry’s Office of Radiation Regulations, said it was highly possible the high level of radiation was caused by water containing radioactive cesium seeping into the soil over a long period.

After the outbreak of the nuclear crisis, clouds containing cesium spread over a widespread area, causing relatively high levels of radiation at many locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Kashiwa is just north of Tokyo.

“If the damage to the gutter caused [the hotspot in Kashiwa], it won’t be surprising if similar levels of radiation are detected in other places,” said Tsutomu Tohei, professor emeritus at Tohoku University.

If radioactive cesium adheres to the surface of soil or a leaf, it tends to remain there, Tohei said. However, rainwater may bring cesium that was previously scattered over various places to a particular spot, such as a gutter. If such cesium accumulates for a long time, the radiation level would become higher than in surrounding areas.

The Kashiwa municipal government has decided to examine all other plots of land owned by the city. In addition, the city will implement similar measures for private properties beginning next month, examining the premises of residents who make such requests or lending residents measuring devices.

However, the municipal government has yet to establish a framework to systematically find other hotspots. It has only covered the recently discovered spot with uncontaminated soil and blue tarpaulin sheets.

“It’s difficult to find a company to decontaminate [the site] given the extremely high level of radiation,” a city government official said. “The situation is more than we can handle as a local government.”

The municipality has started discussions with the Environmental Ministry and Cabinet Office, asking the central government to take responsibility for determining the cause of the hotspot and the exact amount of contaminated soil, as well as decontaminating the location.

The hotspot was first discovered by a man living in the neighborhood who always carries a dosimeter.

Frustrated by the slow response of local governments to the radiation problem, many citizens and organizations are checking radiation levels in their neighborhoods on their own. These efforts will likely lead to the discovery of many more hotspots.

However, people may get different figures at the same spot depending on their examination methods or specific dosimeters.

Kiyoshi Nomura, associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said people do not have to worry too much about localized radiation.

… these are not “dosimeters” but “glass badges” that passively collect radiation information. It won’t help these children or their parents to avoid high-radiation areas and spots, it won’t tell them how much radiation they will have been exposed unless they are sent in to a company to interpret the data.

Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.

Yo: So making comparisons with X-rays and CT scans has no meaning. Because you can breathe in radioactive material.

Hirose: That’s right. When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children. Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments. What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material.

Dr. Helen Caldicott (Co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility):

You’ve bought the propaganda from the nuclear industry. They say it’s low-level radiation. That’s absolute rubbish. If you inhale a millionth of a gram of plutonium, the surrounding cells receive a very, very high dose. Most die within that area, because it’s an alpha emitter. The cells on the periphery remain viable. They mutate, and the regulatory genes are damaged. Years later, that person develops cancer. Now, that’s true for radioactive iodine, that goes to the thyroid; cesium-137, that goes to the brain and muscles; strontium-90 goes to bone, causing bone cancer and leukemia. It’s imperative … that you understand internal emitters and radiation, and it’s not low level to the cells that are exposed. Radiobiology is imperative to understand these days.”